How to Successfully Avoid a Messy House

With the thought of a post-party-messy-house I decided it might be nice to treat everyone to breakfast. So after Liam and Quinn woke up I sent Quinn to ask Mike if he'd want to go out for breakfast. I know that this is the best method for getting Mike out of bed on the weekends - a promise of eggs, biscuits, and hashbrowns - prepared by someone else and cleaned up by someone else. So, we headed out to our favorite breakfast spot and commented on how lovely it was outside. The sun was shining, a light breeze offered a bit of relief from the morning heat, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Or maybe there was, but perhaps Mike and I were still half-asleep. After a successful trip to our breakfast spot I started to feel a bit adventurous and suggested to Mike that maybe we should just stop at home, get some things, and head to the Z. O. O., being careful to spell the letters so as not to alert Quinn. But alas, Z.O.O. is one of the words that Quinn not only likes to read all over the place, but also likes to write. ZOO. Zoo. zoo. And he quickly exclaims, "Yes! Let's go to the zoo. Can I bring a juice box? And a lunch? Will Liam come with? Let's go!" So, of course, we had no other choice than to go to the zoo. But wait, I thought, the forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms, oh, but that's been in the forecast all week and practically nothing has happened here, so let's go and avoid the messy house.
Our first stop was to visit the sharks and stingrays that you're allowed to touch. Quinn wanted nothing to do with that, but enjoyed looking into the pool.

Wait! Oh my gosh! Do you see that horrible parent? That kid is going to fall right into the pool! With the sharks! And the stingrays! Oh my god. Somebody should have stopped her.

Oh wait. That's me. And Liam- who loved splashing in the water and barked like a dog anytime a stingray swam by.

After we visited the sharks and stingrays, we quickly visited the Monkey House, since strollers are not allowed and I was having a very difficult time holding on to antsy Liam who wanted nothing more than to climb into the area with the monkeys and well, monkey around with them. Next up - the pachyderms - where we witnessed a hippo getting it's teeth brushed. I was amazed at the size of their teeth and amount - not as many as you'd think. That hippo loved having it's teeth brushed and would sit there with it's mouth open just waiting for more.

Next up? My favorite spot - looking out at the giraffes. I'm not quite sure why it's impossible to get a picture of two kids with both of them looking at the camera, but either way - it is. By this point Quinn had asked to eat lunch for the 100,000,003 time and we finally caved and found ourselves a nice little spot to eat.

Quinn enjoy his juice box and a PB&J and Mike and I were all set to enjoy hotdogs and beer. Except, the zoo doesn't serve beer until after noon - and it was only 11am! So hotdogs and water it was.

By now the heat was really starting to get to me and since I didn't know we were going to the zoo in the morning when I got dressed I was starting to crave a tank-top. Sleeves, even short sleeves, really bother me in the heat and I decided to use our membership coupon to get myself a tank-top and Quinn an umbrella, because they're so much cuter at the zoo than anywhere else. So, we headed to the dolphin spot gift shop and are told as soon as we walked in that we should go downstairs, to the under-water viewing area, because they were just made aware of a Level 2 storm advisory. "And when it reaches a Level 3, we'll join you down there. If you want to take your stroller with, go right now, otherwise you'll have to leave it outside." So, we head down to the underwater viewing area commenting on the weather. The sun was still shining and wait, oh yes, there are clouds in the sky. I'm not sure how long we were down there, but it seemed like forever. Liam wanted nothing to do with his stroller or being held, and it was quickly approaching his naptime. Finally, I found something he enjoyed doing. Crawling around on the dirty floor - with Quinn chasing him.

I called my dad to see what was going on weather wise - what exactly does Level 2 Storm Advisory mean anyway? The report? No tornadoes, but extreme storms, high winds, hail, and according to my dad it should have been raining at the zoo as I was talking to him. But it was not. After quickly thinking of heading to the car, we looked out the doors, and it started pouring. Lightening, thunder, winds, the works. Liam so wanted to go outside and play in it, but Quinn would not allow that to happen.

So finally the storm ended after about 10 minutes of rainfall, but we'd been stuck down there for at least 8 hours, or, okay, 40 minutes, or maybe it was just 30. Then we decided to head out, another call to my dad determines that there shouldn't be any more storms for awhile, so we choose to stay at the zoo a bit longer.
And then once we saw that Liam had, oh my gosh, actually fallen asleep in his stroller (for the first time ever!) - we decided to stay even longer.

It was still raining just a bit so we made use of Quinn's new umbrella and a garbage bag to keep dry. (And, I didn't get myself a new shirt, because really, they were all pretty ugly, and after the rain - the heat went away and it was SO nice out).Finally, after Mike was able to get himself a beer, we headed home. Quinn had such a long day he was fast asleep.

And I guess Liam felt like his 20 minute Power Nap in the stroller was enough for him, because he stayed awake the whole way home...But did take a nice two hour nap once we got home.